News Items

  • Affidavit by Daniel Ellsberg for Plowshare Activists Being Allowed a Defense of Necessity

    In 1971 I gave the U.S. Senate, the New York Times and the Washington Post copies of what have come to be known as The Pentagon Papers. I was arrested on twelve felony counts. My trial was dismissed because of government misconduct which figured in the impeachment proceedings against President Nixon…These considerations bear on two other elements of the necessity defense, the “lack of legal alternatives” and the “imminence” of the harms to be averted. Again, I speak from my own experience, but not only mine, in saying that it is the perceived insufficiency of other means, by themselves not…

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  • A Long List of Democratic Candidates Requires a Large Catalog of Their Funders

    By Sam Haut: As the first debates for the Democratic primary begin, and the list of candidates has grown to 24, it can be difficult to contextualize where each candidate has received funding from over the course of their time in office. What follows is a list of the Democratic candidates and the top sources for how much money they’ve made and where those top sources come from.

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  • NATO and US Foreign Policy: Dangers Ahead

    RootsAction.org held a news conference Thursday on “NATO and U.S. Foreign Policy: Dangers Ahead” hosted by the Institute for Public Accuracy. Speakers include former State Department officials Matthew Hoh, Ann Wright, as well as Martin Fleck. The event was moderated by Norman Solomon.

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  • Media Advisory: “NATO and U.S. Foreign Policy: Dangers Ahead”

    At 10 a.m. Tuesday, April 2, 2019 at the National Press Club: On the same day that President Trump is scheduled to meet with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the White House, this news conference will focus on the U.S.-NATO relationship. Speakers include former State Department officials Matthew Hoh and Ann Wright.

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  • Statement by Floyd Abrams in response to Attorney General nominee William Barr’s remarks on the First Amendment

    “It’s one thing to say that there could be circumstances in which a journalist’s need to protect her sources could lead to a potential finding of contempt of court if she refused to obey a court order requiring such disclosure. But the notion that a journalist could properly be jailed for publishing material that the government thinks could ‘hurt the country’ is something else entirely and would be deeply threatening to First Amendment norms in general and journalistic freedom in particular.”

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  • Statement on NAFTA’s “Kafkaesque” Turn

    The supposedly concluded renegotiation of NAFTA has reached a Kafkaesque stage. As the United States Trade Representative has stated: “The United States and Mexico have reached a preliminary agreement in principle, subject to finalization and implementation.” Not only the negotiations have not been finalized, and without Canada, but the texts remain hidden from the public.

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  • What’s the Cost of Medicare for All?

    Even a Koch-backed think tank finds Medicare for all would cut health care spending. In a report released by the Mercatus Center, a single-payer health care system would offset costs with even greater savings. The Intercept and other media reporting on this are citing the work of Drs. David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler. They are distinguished professors of health policy at the City University of New York at Hunter College and lecturers in medicine at Harvard Medical School. They have written an analysis of the work of the Koch-backed think tank, the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, which is…

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  • Trump Team Hired Israeli Spy Firm Used by Harvey Weinstein to Attack Obama Officials on Iran Deal

    “Aides to Donald Trump, the U.S. president, hired an Israeli private intelligence agency to orchestrate a ‘dirty ops’ campaign against key individuals from the Obama administration who helped negotiate the Iran nuclear deal, the Observer can reveal. People in the Trump camp contacted private investigators in May last year to ‘get dirt’ on Ben Rhodes, who had been one of Barack Obama’s top national security advisers, and Colin Kahl, deputy assistant to Obama, as part of an elaborate attempt to discredit the deal.”

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  • From the desk of Noam Chomsky

    From the desk of Noam Chomsky

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  • 15 Years Later: The Whistleblower Who Almost Blocked the Iraq War

    Media Advisory: Press Conference to Mark 15th Anniversary Of Leak by GCHQ Translator Katharine Gun Revealing US “Dirty Tricks” at UN for Iraq War When:  Thursday, 1 March 2018 at 11:00 a.m. Where:  Head office, National Union of Journalists Headland House, 72 Acton Street, London, WC1X 9NB Who:  Katharine Gun, Thomas Drake, Matthew Hoh, Jesselyn Radack This press conference will take place the day before the 15th anniversary of the Observer’s publication of the explosive March 2, 2003 story “US dirty tricks to win vote on Iraq war” — based on a leak by GCHQ translator Katharine Gun — revealing the US National Security Agency’s UN surveillance memo that aimed to grease the way for the…

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  • · Extending Occupation and Oil Plans · Chalabi in D.C. · House Vote on WHIG

    JAMES PAUL Paul, executive director of the Global Policy Forum, which monitors the United Nations, has written several reports about oil including “Oil in Iraq: The Heart of the Crisis.” He said today: “On Tuesday, the Security Council adopted a resolution extending throughout 2006 the UN mandate of the ‘Multinational Force’ in Iraq — that…

  • With Snow Forecast in Kashmir, Tens of Thousands at Risk

    As the official death-toll in the South Asian earthquake reached 73,000, the United Nations and the International Red Cross have issued an urgent appeal, warning that tens of thousands remain at risk for freezing to death due to a shortage of funds for shelter and heating. Snow is forecast for this week. JAMES E. JENNINGS…

  • Responses to Bush’s Claim: “We Do Not Torture”

    President Bush was asked today: “Mr. President, there has been a bit of an international outcry over reports of secret U.S. prisons in Europe for terrorism suspects. Will you let the Red Cross have access to them? And do you agree with Vice President Cheney that the CIA should be exempt from legislation to ban…

  • Bush in Latin America: A Hemisphere United?

    President Bush is attending the Summit of the Americas in Argentina. The following policy analysts are available for interviews. ALAN CIBILS Cibils is a research associate with Centro Interdisciplinario para el Estudio de Politicas Publicas in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He said today: “Here in Argentina, there is a pretty strong opposition to Bush’s policies, especially…

  • The Bird Flu Threat: Public Health Vs. Pharmaceutical Profits

    ROBERT WEISSMAN Co-director of Essential Action, Weissman said today: “President Bush has belatedly announced a program to expand modestly the U.S. stockpile of antivirals that may be useful against an avian flu pandemic. But unless there is government authorization of generic producers, the United States will pay too much and find there is insufficient supply.…

  • · Fitzgerald · Alito

    BRENDAN SMITH JEREMY BRECHER Smith and Brecher co-wrote a recent oped in the Baltimore Sun, “Prosecutor Should Dig Deeper,” in which they commented: “As a prosecutor, Mr. Fitzgerald rightly brought charges where the law was clearest and the evidence most compelling. But the alleged crimes he is investigating are in essence the apparent cover-up operation…

  • Analysis of the Indictment Story

    HOWARD ZINN Zinn is author of the widely read A People’s History of the United States and can address the historical significance of today’s indictment events. More Information DANIEL ELLSBERG Ellsberg is author of the book Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers. After Ellsberg revealed the Pentagon Papers (internal government documents which…

  • · Israeli-Palestinian Violence · Oil-for-Food Report

    Reuters reported Thursday: “Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowed an open-ended offensive against Palestinian militants and Israeli aircraft struck the Gaza Strip on Thursday, a day after a suicide bomber killed five Israelis.” STEVE NIVA Professor of international and Middle East studies at the Evergreen State College, Niva said today: “The timing of the criminal suicide…

  • Miers Withdrawal: Interviews Available

    JAMIN RASKIN Raskin is a law professor at American University and author of the book Overruling Democracy: The Supreme Court vs. the American People. He said today: “The Republicans are inviting us to believe that the choices are between cronyism and right-wing ideology. But there are other directions the president could move if he were…

  • U.S. Dead and Iraqi Dead

    CINDY SHEEHAN Sheehan, whose son Casey was killed in Iraq, is currently in Washington, D.C., and will be participating in a vigil with other members of Gold Star Families for Peace in front of the White House this week. She said today: “Mahatma Gandhi stated: ‘Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the State becomes…

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